Sick cows living among filth, maggoty carcasses Chino, CA (US) Incident Date: Thursday, May 31, 2007 County: San Bernardino Local Map: available Disposition: Alleged Charges: Felony CTA Alleged: » Albert Rodriguez - Convicted » Albert Buitenhuis Case Updates: 1 update(s) available

Case ID: 11841 Classification: Neglect / Abandonment Animal: cow View more cases in CA (US) Login to Watch this Case

Prosecutors filed a felony animal cruelty charge Thursday against two men suspected of keeping more than a dozen young, sick cows in filthy living conditions.

Investigators said they found the cows in June 2007 in a barn on a Chino dairy, wallowing in the maggot-infested remains of other cows that died long before and were never removed.

Their water was mucky, and their feed was moldy and had rocks in it, Deputy District Attorney Debbie Ploghaus said.

"It was just needless suffering," Ploghaus said.

Charged Thursday were Albert Rodriguez, 51, of Chino and Albert Buitenhuis, 26, of Riverside.

Both men remained out of custody, and it was unclear Thursday when they will appear in Chino Superior Court to be arraigned.

The Inland Valley Humane Society received an anonymous tip last month reporting that Holstein dairy cows were living in a squalid enclosed barn on a dairy on Pine Avenue in Chino.

What investigators found horrified them.

The remains of at least five cows were rotting on the floor, some crawling with feasting insects.

Some remains were fresh, while others looked to have been there a while, Ploghaus said.

"Some were decomposing enough that they had basically turned to leather," she said.

About 15 live cows, estimated to be about 2 or 3 months old, were also in the barn, some standing 6 inches deep in the decaying carcasses.

About five of the live cows appeared somewhat healthy. The remaining were sickly and emaciated, said Beth Les, community service officer with the Inland Valley Humane Society.

One had to be euthanized on site.

Their feed, rolled corn, was mixed with dirt and rocks, Les said.

"It looked like it might have been scraped off the ground somewhere," she said.

Rodriguez and Buitenhuis leased the barn from the dairy, which otherwise had no connection to the operation, Les said. All the other cows on the dairy were healthy and well-fed.

Both men appear to be partners in a venture in which they buy sick calves at auction for only a few dollars, and then later resell those that don't die for a profit, Les said.

It's a common practice in the cattle industry, she said.

To continue producing milk, dairy cows must regularly give birth, she said. When their calves fall ill, they are sold, sometimes for as little as a dollar or two. If they are nursed back to health, they can fetch full value on the open market, she said.

In this case, however, it appeared Rodriguez and Buitenhuis were doing little to nothing to care for their sick animals, authorities said.

"If they got these cows and they were already sick, that's fine," Ploghaus said. "But get them good food and good water and veterinary care. Don't take already sick cows and put them in these conditions."

Les said Rodriguez and Buitenhuis apparently didn't think they had done anything wrong when authorities contacted them, but were nonetheless fully cooperative with the investigators.

She said some people in the dairy industry simply view cows as property, rather than living beings.

"But if you're going to take on the life of an animal, you need to be responsible for it," she said.

The surviving cows were taken to a nearby property where they are now receiving proper care, she said.

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Daily Bulletin - July 26, 2007

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